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PODCAST

The Science of Birds

Ivan Phillipsen

The Science of Birds is a lighthearted exploration of bird biology. It"s a fun resource for any birder or naturalist who wants to learn more about ornithology. Impress your birding friends at cocktail parties with all of your new bird knowledge! Hosted by Ivan Phillipsen, a professional birding guide and passionate naturalist with a PhD in Zoology.

science nature

All Episodes

58:50

Answers to Your Questions About Birds - AMA - Vol 4

The Science of Birds ·

2024/05/15

In this episode—which is Number 96—I’ll be answering questions sent by my listeners. So this is what we call an “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) episode. I enjoy doing these, and it’s so interesting to see what sorts of questions people have about birds.The listeners who get to contribute questions for these Ask Me Anything episodes are members of my community on Patreon. There are several tiers of support that people can join, and at the Helpful Hornbill and Awesome Osprey level, one perks is getting to ask

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40:16

Spoonbills

The Science of Birds ·

2024/04/30

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33:34

The Avian Digestive System

The Science of Birds ·

2024/04/10

This episode—which is Number 94— is all about the Avian Digestive System. That’s right, kids, we’re looking at bird guts today!If you’ve ever wondered what happens to a fish swallowed by a kingfisher or what happened to that piece of bacon swiped off your lunch plate by a cheeky Ring-billed Gull... Well, you're about to find out.I’ll do my best to describe in words the anatomical features we encounter today. But I’ve also drawn a diagram for you. You can check that out on the show notes for

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49:45

House Sparrow

The Science of Birds ·

2024/03/21

This episode—which is number 93—is all about the the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus), one of the world’s best known and most abundant birds. It expanded across the planet along with humans over the last 10,000 years, with the spread of agriculture. Today, this plucky little bird is a model organism for the study of basic bird biology. Over 7,000 scientific studies of the House Sparrow have been published. In this episode, we’ll get into what this species looks and sounds like, where it lives, its

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64:56

Bird Habitat: Deserts

The Science of Birds ·

2024/02/29

This episode—which is Number 92—is all about the value of desert ecosystems as habitats for birds.Deserts are important for the birds that are adapted to live in them—birds that can handle the harsh conditions. Deserts are home to relatively few bird species. Only the polar regions and maybe some parts of the open ocean have less bird diversity.Even if a bird species can handle the extremes of heat and cold in a desert, the desiccating winds, and the lack of water, that bird may not find much food

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65:19

Chickadees, Tits, and Titmice

The Science of Birds ·

2024/02/15

This is Episode 91. It’s all about birds in the family Paridae. These are the chickadees, tits, and titmice—cute little forest-dwelling songbirds known and loved by many people around the world.I’ve had a lot of requests to make a podcast episode about chickadees and their kind. Some species in this family are familiar visitors to backyard bird feeders. They’re highly active, vocal, bold, and sometimes quite confiding with people. It’s possible to gain the trust of tits and chickadees of some

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44:40

Flowers and Feathers: The Importance of Birds as...

The Science of Birds ·

2024/01/19

This is Episode 90 and it’s all about the importance of birds as plant pollinators.If I had to use only one word for the topic of this episode, it would be ornithophily. The definition of ornithophily is “the pollination of flowers by birds.”Today, I’ll be focusing mostly on the ecological relationships between plants and the birds that pollinate them. Another way to look at all of this would be through the lens of evolution—the fascinating ways that plants and birds have co-evolved with respect to

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43:18

Fascinating Things We Learned About Birds Last Year

The Science of Birds ·

2024/01/06

This is Episode 89. I’m publishing it right at the beginning of 2024, and it's a review of some fascinating things that happened in the world of ornithology and bird conservation over the last 12 months, in 2023.Naturally, this isn’t an exhaustive review of every scientific discovery about birds in 2023. That would be too much. An exhaustive review would be, well, exhausting. Maybe not for you, but definitely for me.Instead, I’ll tell you about a handful of studies and projects that I think

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88:26

Owls

The Science of Birds ·

2023/12/16

This episode—which is number 88—is all about owls. Owls are fascinating birds that have captured our imaginations since the dawn of humankind. They have amazing camouflage that allows them to blend in with their surroundings, and they have several other avian superpowers that set them apart from all other birds. Owls are divided into two families—Tytonidae and Strigidae—and we'll be discussing both of them today.Links of InterestOwl Notes–Denver Holt Shares the Short eared Owl's Courtship

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46:28

Avian Rebrand: New Names for Many North American Birds

The Science of Birds ·

2023/11/26

This episode—which is Number 87—is all about some big news in the birding world. The common names for about 150 North American bird species are going to change in the not-too-distant future.This comes from an announcement made by the American Ornithological Society just a few weeks ago, on November 1st.I couldn’t pass up the chance to talk about this. It’s a hot topic among birders right now. People have been asking me what I think about all these birds getting renamed. And so here we are.If you’re

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48:10

Bird Beaks: The Right Tool for the Job

The Science of Birds ·

2023/11/10

This episode—which is Number 86—is all about bird beaks.This will be an overview of beak anatomy, function, evolution, and diversity.The head of every bird on Earth is adorned with a beak. A bill. And to the delight of us all, those beaks come in a wild variety of shapes and colors. Just picture the mugs of toucans, vultures, ducks, parrots, flamingos, and pelicans.The diversity of beak shapes like these is one of the fascinating things about birds. Birds use their beaks for all sorts of tasks

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44:14

Meadowlarks

The Science of Birds ·

2023/10/19

This episode—which is Number 85—is about the Meadowlarks of the world.And it’s not just those three North American species: the Western, Eastern, and Chihuahuan. There are actually 8 bird species we call meadowlarks. The other five are found primarily in South America. We’ll be talking about them today, too.Meadowlarks belong to the New World Blackbird family, Icteridae. This family includes birds like Red-winged Blackbird, Baltimore Oriole, and the Great-tailed Grackle.There’s a lot to admire about

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51:04

Saving Bird Species From the Brink of Extinction

The Science of Birds ·

2023/10/09

This is Episode 84. Our topic today is the challenge of saving bird species that are very close to extinction. Species like the Spix’s Macaw, which have tiny global populations—whether in the wild, or in captivity.Other familiar examples are the California Condor and the Whooping Crane, whose populations bottomed out at 22 and 23, respectively. Rigorous conservation programs have since given these two North American species a fighting chance at long-term survival.This episode is about species that

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61:42

Quails of the New World

The Science of Birds ·

2023/09/25

This is Episode 83. It’s all about birds in the family Odontophoridae. These are the New World quails.Why is this the family of "New World" quails?Because there’s a whole mess of birds we call quails that live in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. But those birds all belong to the pheasant family, Phasianidae. New World quails are shy birds ground-dwelling birds that walk or run around in the daytime, looking for tidbits of food in the leaf litter.If they sense any kind of stranger

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51:46

Tracking Methods: How We Know Where Birds Go

The Science of Birds ·

2023/09/14

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39:41

Sunbirds and Spiderhunters

The Science of Birds ·

2023/08/17

This is Episode 81. It’s all about birds in the family Nectariniidae. These are the sunbirds and the spiderhunters.If you live in or have gone birding in places like Africa, India, Southeast Asia, or Indonesia, you’re probably familiar with sunbirds. Consider yourself lucky.But if you have no idea what a sunbird or a spiderhunter is, or if you have only a vague idea, I’m excited to introduce you to this group of wonderful birds today.Links of InterestThese sunbirds keep singin' their song

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51:31

Earthbound: How Birds Become Flightless

The Science of Birds ·

2023/08/03

This is Episode 80. It's all about flightless birds, and about the evolutionary processes that lead to flightlessness.Flightlessness in birds is, in my opinion, a fascinating scientific topic. And so here we are with this episode.Alive on the planet today, there are about 60 bird species that can’t fly. That’s only about 0.54 percent of the world’s approximately 11,000 species.It turns out there were way more flightless bird species out there before humans started exploring and colonizing every

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47:04

Red-tailed Hawk

The Science of Birds ·

2023/07/18

This is Episode 79. It's all about the Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis).This is one of North America’s most common raptors. We find these birds from sea to shining sea across the continent.The Redtail is a generalist predator. It can eat many kinds of prey and thrive in a broad range of habitats. Besides seeing these birds along the highway, you’re likely to spot a Red-tailed Hawk circling in the sky over a field, soaring or flapping slowly.In this episode, I cover the key traits of the

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43:02

Parental Care: How Birds Raise Their Young

The Science of Birds ·

2023/06/22

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63:13

Seabirds

The Science of Birds ·

2023/06/09

This is Episode 77. It's an overview of seabirds. Some might call them Oceanic birds or Marine Birds.How do we define what is or isn’t a sea bird?Well, it depends on who you ask. There’s no one definition, since “seabird” is an informal term, rather than a scientific one. It doesn’t correspond to a single taxonomic category, or to a single evolutionary lineage.Here’s what the authors of the book Oceanic Birds of the World have to say about it:“To our mind, true seabirds are birds of the ocean,

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